Students Scan Monastery
In the year 2020, a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan emerged due to territorial disputes. During this war that lasted for at least six weeks, drone attacks and many other forms of attacks broke out throughout the area known as Nagorno. At the end of all this war, a temporary agreement was met whereby the region was officially headed by Azerbaijan. This war brought about a sudden meaning to the completed after-school project that had been done by the teenage students of Stepanakert city and the Armenia region who by coincidence made a valuable digital record of what has become a contested historical monument. In the year 2019, 23 students from Stepanakert had learned much about 3D laser scanning services and, therefore, did a 3D scan of a local site known as Davidavank Monastery.
About the project and it’s use of 3D laser scanning services
Stone buildings at the site dated to the 5th century which is considered to be one of the important sites of Armenia’s Christian history. The 3D scanning services done by the students was to represent the most critical historical data. Tumo Center of Creative Technology offered a free after-school project to students, to teach them 3D animation, coding, music production, drawing, and creative writing using technology.
The three centers in Armenia are projected to serve at most 20000 students in a year. This project by Tumo Center was expected to subject students to the new technology used for historic preservation.
Skills learned during this time might be of help to the students in their future jobs of preservation and also building industries. The 3D laser scan that is done helps document not only the exterior part of the site but also the interior part which was built several centuries ago.
During this process, drones were used to capture the exterior where else the 3D scanners were mounted inside the monastery’s walls hence capturing the down space. As it is said the record captured and preserved might become important whenever the monastery will be damaged.
Also according to Papazian, it’s so scary that not only natural disasters can destroy the historical heritage but this can also be done by humans. This is especially in this situation whereby Azerbaijan has announced that the lands and monuments in this region do not belong to the Armenian as it’s claimed.
At the moment the future of the monastery and region are considered open questions, thus having the TUMO Center serve about half the students it served before the war. The plans to continue documenting the historic site in the region have also made the Center buy another 3D scanner. In the end, Papazian says students doing this job is great preparation for them for real-world jobs.